KLEM News PM Update May 14, 2010

(LE MARS)--Planning is underway for one city of Le Mars facility and another building is to be reviewed for better space use.

According to city administrator Scott Langel, McClure Engineering's design concept for the public works facility at Fourth Avenue and First Street Northeast and the land purchased nearby are to be presented to the Public Works committee in the next week or two.

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Langel explains the relocation of the Fire Department last year left space for police use.

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Langel says he wants the public to know there are no plans to add onto the building at First Street and Second Avenue Northeast.

(LE MARS)--A Le Mars man is the choice of Floyd Valley Hospital Trustees for an 18-month vacancy .Trustee Jim Ryan of Le Mars resigned effective today because he and his wife are moving to Yankton. Hospital Board chair Bill Rosacker announced the decision to appoint Ralph Klemme of Le Mars to serve the time left on Ryan's term. There were seven applicants for the opening.

Klemme is a former state representative, school board member and Iowa Environmental Protection Commissioner who also serves on the Plymouth County Zoning Commission.

The announcement begins a 10-day period when any Le Mars resident may contest the appointment and request a special election be held to seat someone else on the board.

Specific information about requesting an election is available from Le Mars City Clerk Bev Langel.

The appointment will be considered by the Le Mars City Council during a regular meeting at noon Tuesday. With ratification from the council and no request for an election, the appointment of Klemme would be effective May 24th. The term ends in December of next year.

(SALIX)--A dedication and open house is planned near Salix by the Woodbury County Conservation Board next weekend.

The newly paved entrance road to Snyder Bend Park will officially be opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony at one Saturday afternoon May 22nd. The road and park have been closed since April 12th.

Following the road grand opening, the Woodbury County Conservation Board will host an open house for the public to view one of its four new luxury rental cabins at the south end of Snyder Bend park.

Rental operations for the four units will begin May 28th featuring two bedrooms with queen beds, full kitchen and bath, living area, completely furnished with appliances and cooking/eating utensils, heating and air conditioning and large deck. Two units are fully accessible. Cabins rental will be available each year from May first through October 31st.

(HULL)--A Rock Rapids man is charged following a Sioux County Sheriff's Department investigation of a fatal traffic accident two miles northwest of Hull last month.

According to the sheriff's office. 42-year-old Patrick Camburn is charged with failure to yield half the roadway and operating without a seatbelt.

Authorities report Camburn was driving a pickup truck that crossed Highway 75 and struck a mini-van driven by 51-year-old Judy Dieken of George. She died. Camburn was airlifted to a Sioux Falls hospital

(ROCK RAPIDS)--The Lyon County Sheriff's office reports a medical condition led to a traffic accident that injured a Little Rock man early Tuesday afternoon.

Authorities reported a semi and cattle trailer driven by 57-year-old Arlan Arends rolled backwards and struck a tree after fishtailing and jackknifing.

Today, the sheriff's department reports Arends had a heart attack. He is no longer hospitalized in Sioux Falls.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) A state panel has rejected an effort to ban alcohol at beaches at some state parks in the Okoboji area in northern Iowa over the Fourth of July holiday.

The state Natural Resources Commission on Thursday voted 4-3 against the ban, but commissioners left the door open to a ban in the future.

The lakes are one of Iowa's top vacation spots, especially for college students.

Park rangers say they'll bring in an Iowa State Patrol tactical unit to help keep order this July Fourth weekend at Gull Point State Park beach, where fights, public intoxication and nudity have been a growing problem.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

(ROCK RAPIDS)--Could the casino license awarded to Lyon County be the last every handed out by state regulators? That's a question raised after the Racing and Gaming Commission announced its decision Thursday, awarding one license and turning away three other requests. Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission Administrator, Jack Ketterer, says the commissioners were unanimous in saying Thursday that it will be awhile before the issue of new licenses surfaces again.

Ketterer says the commission indicated they weren't closing the door forever because they can't bind future commissions, but he says it is clear they believe it should be at least five years before the state even thinks about adding any new casinos. Ketterer says the economy played a role in the commission's decision. He says the impact of the economy increases the concern about a new casino taking business from an existing casino.

Ketterer says the adjusted gross revenue at the existing casinos is currently down about four-percent, so that is a factor in deciding new licenses. Ketterer says the current economy also makes it tough to find the financing for a new casino. Iowa will have 18 state-licensed casinos once the Lyon County facility is up and running and it will be several years before its determined if that number grows.(News report by Radio Iowa)

VERMILLION, S.D. (AP) Former Dakota, Minnesota Eastern Railroad head Kevin Schieffer is donating a rare violin to the National Music Museum in Vermillion.

Schieffer, a member of the museum's Board of Trustees, will donate the Amati violin on Friday. He bought the violin from Wisconsin's Copernicus Cultural Foundation for the museum's permanent collection on May 4.

It was built and embellished in 1595 to honor King Henry IV of France.

Museum officials say it's the only known violin to be decorated with the armorials and motto of King Henry IV. Henry ruled from 1584 until his death in 1610, and Friday marks the 400th anniversary of his assassination.

According to legend, Mozart played this violin during visit to France during the reign of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City says farm income should improve in some Midwest and Western states during the second quarter because livestock businesses will benefit from lower feed costs.

But the Fed's survey of banks in the 10th District says total farm income fell slightly in the first quarter as crop prices declined, so that will reduce income that farmers can expect this year.

The Fed says farmland values increased about 2 percent across the district during the first three months of 2010 because demand remained strong. Most of the land buyers were farmers, but some buyers were investors.

BOONE, Iowa (AP) The Iowa State Patrol says a deadly crash between a semitrailer and an ambulance in Boone County happened when the trucker tried to yield to the approaching ambulance.

A patient and a nurse in the ambulance were killed Thursday when the ambulance hit the back of the truck on U.S. Highway 30.

The patrol says the truck, driven by Dennis Good, of Ogden, was headed east in the left lane when Good attempted to turn north off the highway. When Good saw the ambulance approaching, he attempted to switch to the right lane to avoid a collision, but the ambulance also switched to the right lane and hit the back of the trailer.

The ambulance was taking the patient from St. Anthony Regional Hospital in Carroll to a Des Moines hospital.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) A state panel has rejected an effort to ban alcohol at beaches at some state parks in the Okoboji area in northern Iowa over the Fourth of July holiday.

The state Natural Resources Commission on Thursday voted 4-3 against the ban, but commissioners left the door open to a ban in the future.

The lakes are one of Iowa's top vacation spots, especially for college students.

Park rangers say they'll bring in an Iowa State Patrol tactical unit to help keep order this July Fourth weekend at Gull Point State Park beach, where fights, public intoxication and nudity have been a growing problem.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) A Waterloo woman who allegedly left a hospital with a heart monitor still attached is charged with theft.

Police say Wendi Mae Mingus was a patient at Allen Hospital on May 8 when she walked outside to have a cigarette. She was attached to a wireless heart monitor valued at $1,000.

According to court records, staff told her she couldn't go outside to smoke unless she was discharged. Mingus left.

Police found Mingus the next day after she allegedly tried to break through a wall in an apartment building. She was arrested for second-degree theft and fifth-degree criminal mischief.

Mingus was in the Black Hawk County jail on Friday on $5,000 bond. Jail officials did not know if she had an attorney.

RED OAK, Iowa (AP) Authorities have busted a marijuana growing operation with a street value of $1.5 million in southwest Iowa.